The United States economy: performance and issues

This volume brings together technical papers prepared by the IMF staff for the Article IV consultations with the United States over the period 1988-90. The papers focused on key issues for U.S. economic policy in recent years and examined measures that might be expected to improve the prospects for growth over the medium term. The issues analyzed include macroeconomic questions related to fiscal and monetary policies, the current account, national saving, and exchange rates, as well as microeconomic topics such as the performance of the U.S. health care sector and the ramifications of U.S. tax and public expenditure structures.

National savings and public policy. National and personal saving : measurement and analysis of recent trends / A. Lans Bovenberg and Owen Evans -- Tax policy and national saving : a survey / A. Lans Bovenberg -- National savings and targets for the federal budget balance / Owen Evans -- Social security, demographic trends, and the federal budget ; Some microeconomics of fiscal deficit reductions : the case of tax expenditures / Liam P. Ebrill -- Investment in housing : a portfolio approach to effects of changes in tax policy / Krister Andersson -- Fiscal and economic impact of federal credit programs / Steven M. Fries -- Other domestic macroeconomic issues and medium-term outlook. Tax policy and business investment : evidence from the 1980s / Robert Corker, Owen Evans, and Lloyd Kenward -- A systems approach to estimating the natural rate of unemployment and potential output for the United States / Charles Adams and David T. Coe -- The determinats of U.S. real interest rates in the long run / Sharmini Coorey.

(Cont.) Monetary and financial issues. Broad money growth and inflation / Liam P. Ebrill and Steven M. Fries -- An expensive thrift industry / Steven M. Fries -- Current acc…